How They Did It: Digital Drama

Ed Wenck

Dec 21, 2017

The winning project in the CEDIA® Awards category of "Best Lighting Control and Installation" features 245 digitally addressable fixtures and remote drivers – something the electrical contractor on the build wasn’t familiar with. The ZIO Group team, after designing the lighting and controls and choosing the fixtures, had to work carefully to ensure that the client’s expectations were exceeded.

As is the case with many projects of this scale, “lighting” is more than modern LED fixtures – the design must work seamlessly with other aspects of the home automation. Thirty-seven motorized shades are part of the system, as are subsystems that control devices such as bathroom fans and spa temperature.

The end result needed to deliver not only drama, but also comfort, and security – ease of use is also something this project accomplishes in masterful fashion.

ZIO Group shared all the automation events in this installation. Some highlights:

“Lighting schedules are configured to turn all exterior lighting on and off based on a combination of astronomical time clock events as well as absolute times. Variables are used to allow override for special events and vacation modes without normal timeclock interruptions.

All shades on the rear sunset facing side of the home are closed one hour before sunset and are returned to their prior position after sunset.

All bath fans have a time than ensures the fan stays running for 5 minutes after the lights in the bathroom are turned off.

Pool lighting is integrated with exterior lighting scenes and time clock schedules.”